Builder got the hump with road noise

David Blunkett said he had a "great deal of sympathy" for a builder who dug up a noisy speed trap outside his home with his JCB.

Ian Beesley, from Oxford, appeared at Oxford Magistrates Court yesterday charged with criminal damage after ripping out the £300 obstacle in November last year. He had complained about the sound of lorries passing over the hump.

In a highly unusual intervention from a minister, Mr Blunkett expressed his support. "I am sorry he felt he had to do it," he told Sky News. "As someone who has been bedevilled in the past sometimes by sleepless nights, I have to say I have a great deal of sympathy for him. I am sure in court he will be big enough to apologise and the council will be big enough to find a solution."

The case was adjourned until today